The Intersection of Light and Dark
by Jeice Lover
Summary: It is said amongst the two clans of the overseers that the intersection between light and dark shall bring calamity upon both clans. However, they were so caught up in preventing this calamity, that they kept themselves almost isolated. What they did not see was how this intersection could be in bringing two people, so tender-hearted and true, to find love with one another.
1. Chapter 1

The young Sage's acolyte sighed as he sat on a cold, stone bench, hands sitting restlessly on his knees. He had been brought along by a couple of the elder Sages who had been charged with taking care of him, and now they had left him here, in the gardens of the Umbra Witches as they were inside dealing with some business with the magic women of this place.

He hoped that they would be back soon so that they could leave. Ever since he had been old enough to talk, he had had the evils of the witches impressed upon him. They were women of the night, who drew power from infernal demons that hailed from the deepest pits of Inferno. This did not sit well with the Sages, who were men of light that held contracts with angels from the purifying light of Paradiso. They were to be feared and distanced from, yet, in complete contradiction, also treated with respect. They may have been from different factions, but their cooperation and peace was vital to the stability of the world.

However, for an eight year old boy, this was no excuse for the elder Sages to go inside and deal with them, leaving him outside with an order to stay put on this bench.

The child sighed, and leaned back slightly, until his back was just barely touching the tall wall of rosebushes that loomed up behind him and his bench.

"Who are you?"

He jumped slightly as the voice came from behind him, yelping as he felt a thorn from the bushes jab him in the back of the neck as he jerked so suddenly. He turned himself around, raising himself onto his knees so that he could look without leaving his place on the bench. When he peered through the petals, thorns, and leaves, he was surprised to see a pair of eyes at around his height staring back at him. He narrowed his own eyes. Who did this person think they were, sneaking up on him like that? Especially in a place like this.

"I should ask you the same question. What are you lurking around the bushes for?"

"I asked you first," the pert little voice on the other side responded. "Besides, this is the Witches' Gardens, and _you're_ obviously not a Witch. So just what are you doing here?"

"I'm here with the Lumen Sages, they're inside talking to the witches right now."

"You look a little young to be a Sage." He growled in a bit of annoyance.

"Well _obviously_ I'm still in training," he snipped in retort. "I'm going to be a Sage someday, too. They just trust me enough already to bring me along to places like this."

"And then the grown-ups leave you outside to sit by yourself while _they're_ doing all the neat things inside, hm?" the other voice replied cheekily from behind the roses. Well now, whoever she was (he was fairly certain the other voice was female), she certainly knew how to touch sore spots, now didn't she?

"Well, just what are _you_ doing here, then? _You_ seem a little young to be a Witch."

"I live here, silly boy~" The eyes on the other side twinkled as she giggled at what she must have thought was him being funny. "You aren't the only one in training. I'm going to be a Witch someday, just like you're going to be a Sage."

"Well then, miss Witch in training," he replied snippily, trying to retort with what he thought was an equal amount of cheek, "what's your name?"

"Rosa, like these bushes," the girl replied. "And you? What do they call you Mr. 'Sage in training'?~" He was a bit annoyed as she threw his own phrase back at him, but then he couldn't do much but answer her question, otherwise it might seem that she had managed to one-up him (in his own mind, at any rate).

"Balder," he replied proudly. He attempted to mimic the proud appearances that many of the elder Sages held when they wanted to look regal. However, he broke the character when she only laughed at him again.

"That's a silly name."

"Well, it's no sillier than 'Rosa'," he retorted testily. Proud though he wanted to appear, his injured ego caused him to resort to the typically childish action of sticking his tongue at Rosa through the bushes. It didn't seem to have an effect on her, though, because all she did was keep laughing.

"You're pretty funny for a Sage," she said through her laughter. Her eyes were twinkling, and he thought that she might say more, but then she gasped suddenly, and her eyes disappeared from the other side of the bush. He was left confused for a moment, until he realized that he couldn't hear or see any more signs of her still being there.

"...Rosa?" He spoke her name tentatively, squinting through the foliage to try and find the girl he had been conversing/arguing with. "...Are you still there?... Rosa?... Ro-"

"Balder." He started away from the bushes, as he realized that the Sages who had brought him to this place were coming up the path. "What is it you're doing over there?"

"I was... I mean... I-" he fumbled with his words as he tried to figure out what to explain. Could he say that he had been talking to a girl on the other side? Would he get in trouble since she was a Witch in training?

"Well, no matter. Come away from there, my child, we must return to the Sanctuary before nightfall."

"Yes sir," he responded as he came down from the bench. He made his way up to the two elders, who immediately turned and began walking up the path away from the Witches' sanctuary. Balder followed them for a few steps, but then paused, glancing over his shoulder for a few moments, his eyes fixed upon the bushes through which he was just having a most unusual conversation.

"Balder, you're lagging behind."

"Coming, sir."


	2. Chapter 2

Rosa's shoes made no noise as she walked over the grass, the soft blades quieted her footsteps to mere 'whoosh'es as she crossed the grounds. The only other sound she made was a low humming in her throat as she hummed a little tune to occupy her. She perked up suddenly as she saw a vaguely familiar figure sitting at the edge between the grass and the stone path, the garden's wall of rose-bushes not too far away.. A boy about her age was sitting cross legged on the ground, his head craned down so his eyes were trained on something there. From what she could hear, he was speaking in a soft, gentle voice to whatever it was he was looking at.

"There now, it's alright. See? We're safe here."

"Are you?" the boy jerked as he heard the voice, and snapped his head around, only to be greeted by a girl. He could only see a bit of her, because much of her body was covered up by a long dress and a scarf wrapped around her head and face. "What've you got there, boy?"

"None of your business, _girl_," he snipped in response, a bit ired at being referred to as a mere boy. He may not have officially been a Sage yet, but he still felt he deserved a little credit, at least. Still, his attempts at gaining ground were lost immediately, as a small, high-pitched sound emitted from inside of his lap. Suddenly, a little white ball of fluff and downy feathers popped out of his lap and onto his knee. It looked between the boy was sitting on, and the odd girl dressed in dark clothing.

"Oh, well, hello there little one," the girl greeted the bird politely. "And just who might you be?"

"He's mine," Balder responded, giving her a dirty look. "The elder Sages gave him to me to take care of, he'll be helping me when I grow up to be a Sage like them." He gave the girl a scrutinizing look. He hadn't been to the Witches' sancutary in a couple of years, but he vaguely remembered a few things from here. And, for whatever reason, he believed he recognized this girl, or at least her voice, not to mention that oddly familiar laughing sparkle he could see in her eyes... "I know you from somewhere," he finally said rather bluntly. "What was your name... Rosy... no... Rosa, wasn't it?"

"I am," she replied simply. "And you are... ah, that's right! Your name is Balder, isn't it?" she asked. "I think I remember. We met a couple of years ago. You were sitting on a bench somewhere near here, we talked through the rose-bushes."

"... That is right." Yes, it was coming back to him now. He had indeed met her a couple of years ago, she had been teasing him through the foliage. Now here she was, teasing him again in plain sight, leaning over beside him as she looked at his pet.

"Such a cute little thing... May I?" She reached out a hand to the bird, but looked at him questioningly before she got too close to it. He looked at her suspiciously, scanning over her face for any signs of the Witch treachery that the Sages always warned him about.

"... I suppose so," he finally grunted. She seemed to smile from behind her scarves, as she knelt down beside him and gently touched her fingertip to the top of his peacock's head. His pet didn't seem agitated at being touched by someone who was affiliated with darkness. If anything, it was almost chirping merrily, leaning into Rosa's touch much as it did when he himself pet it.

"Very cute..." she repeated as she stroked the downy white feathers along its head. "I wish I could have a pet, but the elders say it's not the best of ideas. Too much to take care of with what we do. You're lucky that you're allowed to keep him."

"...I suppose I am," he responded. He was a bit surprised at how calm she was. Certainly, he had met her previously, but from what all the elder Sages said, witches were all harpies with shrieking laughs and claws for fingers. However, Rosa's voice was sweet as honey, smooth as silk, and her gently-petting fingers were hardly claws.

At last, she stopped petting the head of his bird, and she sat back on her knees.

"Thank you for letting me pet your bird, he's very sweet." She gazed out into the garden, as a bell from some high-up tower of this place began to ring. "Oh, I must go, the Sisters will be expecting me." She stood up and brushed herself of the grass, and looked to him again with smiling eyes. "Goodbye, 'Sage in training'. Perhaps the next time we meet will be a bit sooner than this time~"

With this, she began running across the lawns, not even pausing to let him say his own goodbyes to her. Pale blue eyes were wide as he watched her disappear behind a grove of rosebushes. He was so lost in his own thoughts, watching the place where the girl dressed in black had vanished off to, that he hardly even noticed the elder Sage's return, and barely heard that it was time for them to depart.


	3. Chapter 3

"And thus, the Laguna must be shown the highest respect, as they are divine beings from whom we draw our power."

Balder was sitting outside, resting peacefully in a field of grasses and flowers as he read a scripture book that one of the Sages had loaned him to study from. One had to know their lore back, front, and upside-down if they wanted to become a truly great Sage. This was just one more part of his training, nothing else to it. At the very least he could read this in peace and quiet, with his little peachick resting in one of the pockets of his acolyte's robes, and the warm sun shining down upon him.

"For without their power and might, the Lumen Sages should be-"

"Well, that seems like an dull sort of book." Honestly, if every meeting of their was like this, he was going to develop whiplash from all the times that she made him snap his head around to face her. He grimaced as he saw the witch-girl sitting beside him, almost leaning against his shoulder as she peered into the pages of his book. "This is almost as boring as the witch tomes. Although, I'll admit, at least _this_ has some nice pictures in it."

"What are _you_ doing here?" He gave her a look as he snapped the book shut. The sudden sound caused his pet to ruffle its feathers momentarily, but those quickly settled back into place. It had grown used to the sudden snaps of its masters voice, they hardly bothered it anymore.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Rosa leaned back smoothly, away from his body rather than towards it. "This is not the territory of Sages, I have as much right to be here as you do. My Umbran sisters are finishing up some business, and I thought I'd come and see the local scenery. I never would have thought that I'd be seeing _you_ again so soon, though~"

"Neither did I," he replied, though significantly less playfully than she. He shyed away from the way she leaned ever so closer to him. Even though the majority of her skin was covered by her dress, and she was in no way acting suggestively, the feeling of a female sitting so close to him was a bit out of his comfort zone. Being a young boy, raised within a group that solely consisted of men with strict traditional views that helped to concrete the avoidance between boys and girls at his age, made him a tad uncomfortable about interactions with the opposite sex.

"So, why are _you_ all alone out here, with nothing but a book and a bird for company? Seems a bit lonesome, if you ask me."

"If you _must_ know," he replied, trying to sound confident as his elder Sages did, "I was sent out here as part of my training. I'm meant to sit here in solitary meditation and focus, honing my faith in the works that the Sages honor so deeply. And _you_ are interrupting me by talking so much."

"Am I?" Balder was slightly surprised that Rosa actually sounded concerned. "Oh my, well, I didn't mean to interrupt something so important. Perhaps it might be best if I were to stop talking for now."

"That _would_ be preferable," came his remark in response. When she seemed to hold true to her silence, Balder returned to his scriptures, and began to murmur the words aloud to himself again. However, he ceased his reading again as he realized that, though she was being silent, Rosa had not yet left. She was still sitting next to him, almost resting her body against his shoulder. "_What_ are you still doing here?"

"I said I would be quiet, not that I was going to leave." Her reply irritated him with its ease. How _dare_ she make a joke out of this! This was important to his becoming a Sage, and she shouldn't have been interrupting in the first place. "I wish you would keep going," she went on before he could muster up something sharp to say to her. "The words are a bit dull, but you read them in such a nice voice."

That statement caught him off-guard completely. He looked at her in astonishment as her compliment sank into his head.

"You... you think so?" he asked quietly.

"I do," she nodded. "You say all the words so clearly, and your voice is just very sweet besides." She almost had to hold back a giggle as, whether he was aware of it or not, Balder's pale cheeks were now dusted with a smattering of pale pink. "I do wish you would continue on~"

Balder turned his head towards her, a bit more slowly this time, and stared at her for just a moment.

"You... mean that?"

"I haven't yet told you a lie, have I?" she responded simply. "So? Are you going to go on?"

There was a touch of silence between the two children (and Balder's pet, sleeping almost entirely forgotten in his lap) before Balder turned back to his book and began to read aloud again. As his lips mouthed the sounds of the words on the pages, Rosa leaned near him, never quite touching, and simply let his voice waft past her ears. Honestly, he could have been reading in another language for all she cared, she had meant what she'd said entirely~

And so he read until Rosa's voice was called from some distance away, and she disappeared from his side with a giggle and a wish to see him again even sooner than before.


	4. Chapter 4

In her mind, Rosa could almost laugh at the present situation. Almost three years of persistence she'd held in following after the Sage boy. She would admit, she was interested in him; not only the way he looked, but something about his personality, how he was simply so coiled and straight-laced, so honorable and bent on serving the ancient ways. That was something that even this girl of thirteen years could respect.

Of course, this didn't stop her from coming about every so often to see him. When he was alone, and neither Witch nor Sage were nearby, there she would be: suddenly beside him, up a tree, behind a bush. His reactions grew less extreme each time, but they were no less amusing. And yet, she could feel a sort of tension begin to grow each time she had visited in the past year. Although imperceptible at first, it had steadily grown out like a weed.

Sometimes, when she was feeling the mood, she would chase after him. He would shift into the form of a white-haired wolf and run from her, and then she would be right on his tail as a black-furred tigress.

This was yet another chase, only, it seemed that someone in some other realm of existence had decided to give the tables a casual flip.

Now, it was the tigress who was the runner, and the wolf the pursuer.

She nimbly avoided him at each of his attempts to jump her by surprise. A skid to the left, a graceful turn, a quick roll, and she had managed to avoid him. Trees, rocks, and water were looped, dodged, and leaped-over as the two youngsters were in the heat of the moment's pursuit. It was a breathless chase, but neither was willing to quite give it up.

It was only when they came to the human settlement that the chase came to a close.

Being spotted was no issue, they had already entered their respected realms where they could trounce about the human world without being seen; the addition of buildings was no different than the denseness of the trees. However, once in a place of her choosing, Rosa stopped running for a moment, just long enough for Balder to pounce her, sending the two of them rolling across the side of the building (thankfully the magic of Witches and Sages made silly things like physics unimportant to them, and they could roll across the vertical side of a building just as easily as if they were rolling on the ground.

Somewhere in the struggle, they had both ended back up in their human forms. When their roll finally came to a stop, they were still gravitated towards the side of the building (thanks to the different but similar magics they employed), Rosa found her back pressed against the stone. Balder loomed above (or perhaps in front of) her, his hands on either side next to her head as his fingers gripped the crevices in the wall.

"You've gotten quicker, Balder~" Rosa said playfully by way of a greeting. "I believe I have underestimated your abilities, I had expected you to be as slow of a chaser as you are a runner~"

"Stop that!" Rosa quieted a moment, raising her eyebrow ever so slightly behind her mask. She gazed curiously at the Sage boy who snapped at her so suddenly. Never before had he been this outright aggressive, usually said aggression was expressed far more passively. What was different about this time? "I want one thing from you, Witch, and one thing only! I want answers!" Well, this was an unexpected demand.

"You'll have to be a bit more specific as to exactly what sorts of answers you want from me," Rosa teased.

"You know well what I want to know!" Balder snapped at her. "_Why_ are you following me everywhere?! It's as though everywhere I turn when I'm alone I see you there, just over my shoulder! You're always there! When I'm resting, reading, learning, caring for my pet. And now it seems I can't even get you out of my dreams!"

This last tidbit was not something she had expected, given where the young Sage's verbal train of thought seemed to be heading, but she allowed him to go on interrupted.

"And you just keep coming back, no matter how many times I tell you to go away and leave me alone! So I think the least you can do is tell me why you keep coming back! What is it about me that makes you keep coming to me?!" Rosa gazed up at him with her stormy gray eyes, not even a smirk played behind the cloth of her mask. As she spoke to him, one of her legs gently shifted across the wall of the building, running along the side of his.

"First off, Sage boy, you are not the boss of me. I may go wherever it is I may please. Secondly, I cannot recall a single time you have told me to both 'go away' and 'leave you alone' together at the same point in time. And, thirdly..." Having succeeded in hooking her leg around his, she gave a sudden jerk that sent him off-balance, and rolled the two of them until she ended up as the one with her hands pressing the wall near his head. "... You interest me, and I like you. Those are the best reasons I can give you for what it is I do. You can take or leave that."

Balder stared up at her with an open expression of surprise.

"...That's it?!" he finally managed. "All this time you keep following me and talking to me, popping up at the most inopportune times, teasing me to no end... and it's all because you _like_ me?"

"That's precisely the reason why," Rosa responded. She slowly leaned her face down, so close Balder could see view right up close the many minute shades of gray that made up her irises, then gently touched the tip of her nose to his. "Take that as you will, 'Sage-inTraining', but that is the absolute truth of the matter."

She pulled her face back from his, but still kept her body hovering inches above his own. She removed one of her hands from the stone his head was pressed against, only to slip one of the fingers from the aforementioned hand into his hair, gently sliding it through the silky strands. Balder could only stare up at her as her eyes twinkled impishly down at him.

"Well then, if those were all of the answers that you wanted... I suppose it's ta-ta, for now, Sage~"

"Wh- wai-!" Before he could finish his call for her to stop, she had already flipped backwards off of the building, her body forming a graceful arc in the air before turning into that of a black-feathered falcon, and swooping gracefully away; even as he still lay stunned as his magic held him in place against the wall of the building.

He could have easily turned himself into an eagle and flown after her, and yet... somehow, her words had simply stunned him too much to consider doing that; as three of her words echoed in a repeated cycle in his mind.

_I like you... I like you... I like you... I like you..._


	5. Chapter 5

Being considered one of the top acolytes in the group of Sages-in-training had its advantages: more advanced training, more recognition from the Elders, being trusted to accomplish his duties without constant supervision. However, one of the things that Balder had always found the best about his advancement in the training was the fact that he was given the prestige of having his own room, and not having to share with 5 or so other Acolytes.

In any case, it meant that, lately, he might be able to go hours at a time, holding a book in his lap without even glancing at the words on the page as he stared glazy-eyed out the window.

"Best be careful, Balder. Keep on mooning like that, and people are likely to start mistaking you for an Umbra." The boy started as he heard the older voice behind him, and turned to see one of the Elder Sages standing in his doorway, smiling slightly. Although his room had the rare privilege of having a lock on the door, he hardly ever used it. The only people who ever came into his room besides himself was when the Elders had something to tell him, and even that was once in a blue moon.

"F-father," he stuttered, defensively gripping the book in his hands as he stood up. The man was not his father by blood, of course, this was simply the manner in which all Sages greeted one another. Those of equal rank by 'brother' and those of higher by 'Father', or whatever the preference was there. "I didn't hear you come in. I-"

"Rest easy now, Balder, you are not in trouble. I have merely come to talk to you." He nodded to the door in a silent question, to which Balder nodded back. When the door was shut on their silent agreement, the young Sage approached the older, and they looked at one another seriously. "Now, Balder, I know that myself and some of the other Elders have taken notice of your behavior as of late: staring off into space, not paying attention when others are speaking, and even holing yourself away here more than usual. Your performance is still excellent, my boy, we are simply concerned for you."

"Yes, Father, I apologize for making you worry," Balder sighed, hanging his head. Always he had been complimented on being the perfect Acolyte without flaw, and now he was being told that he was acting out of the bounds of acceptable behavior.

"Now, now, my child, no need to apologize. I have spent many years on this world now, I've seen this countless times before." Balder lifted his head and looked at the Elder with confusion. Seen what before? "I've seen many enough times to know the signs when a young man has found himself fancying a young lady."

Oh, if the old man only knew the half of it. He may have seen young crushes before, but somehow, Balder doubted that the Elder had ever seen a boy whose 'fancy' was a persistent Witch-girl who didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer.

"I... I don't-"

"No need to be nervous, my child. You are young, budding into a young man. We may be Sages, but we are human nonetheless." The Elder's gaze firmed then, and a hand was placed upon Balder's shoulder. "Listen to me, my boy. It is not my desire to deny your rights to youth. You may have your feelings for this young lady, whoever she is, you may even pursue her for a bit to get her out of your system, but always remember this one thing." He gazed into Balder's eyes piercingly, as if his eyes bore right into his very soul. "Before anything else, you are to be a Lumen Sage, and our hearts and souls belong firmly to the power of the light; no matter what our flesh desires, this is the power by which we must guide our lives. Do you understand, my boy?"

"... Yes, Father." The elder man smiled, and gently patted him on the head.

"Good lad. Just remember your pride as a Sage, and the duty we have to Paradiso. You have a great destiny ahead of you, my child, I can feel it. Simply keep your heart pure, and your eyes open to the light, and you shall fulfill it, of that much, I am certain." The Elder smiled, then removed his hand from the younger Sage's shoulder. "I hope that this talk has eased your mind, my child. I shall keep you from your studies no longer." With this, he walked out the door, and left it closed behind him once more.

Once he had gone, Balder sighed as he gazed out the window once again. The talk had been nice and all, and under any circumstance, with any person focused on the light, it would have been an inspiration surely.

That is, it would have been, had his mind been on the light...

–

Rosa hummed cheerily as she traipsed through the halls of the Umbran sanctuary. Her heels 'clack'ed sharply against the stone as she made her way towards the exit. She had someone she was planning to see today, and she certainly couldn't leave that to wait~

"You seem awfully cheery today, Rosa." She stopped when she heard the voice behind her, and when she looked, she saw one of her older Umbran sisters sitting on a bench, where she had apparently been in the middle of reading, by the book in her lap. "And going out again, I see. You seem to traipse out of here an awful lot. What is so interesting out there that you get away every chance you get? Especially in the daytime."

Rosa smiled behind her mask as she placed a hand on her hip.

"What can I say? My favorites are always in full bloom while it's still light out~" The other witch gave her an odd look until understanding dawned on her face.

"Ah, right, your flowers." Although her friend's eyes were the only parts of her features that she could see, thanks to her mask, she could see both concern and strained patience in them quite clearly. "...Rosa, you know that people have been talking, don't you? The types of murmurs going around." Her friend paused, waiting for this to sink in before she continued. "People keep wondering why you go out all on your own so often, never telling anyone when you're going or where you've gone. You are a strong Witch, and you have great things in your future, that much is certain. They, _we, _are just a bit concerned, Rosa, with how oddly you're acting."

"...Well, I don't think you have much need to concern yourselves," Rosa smiled warmly beneath her mask. "I am not stepping outside any of our set boundaries or rules." Technically the truth, though people might think otherwise were they to know what it was she really did when she went out. "My Sister," she went on, placing her hand on her hip, "I have kept faithful to our Order, and never have I strayed from our laws. People may say what they like about me, but no one can deny what you have just said about me."

She approached where her fellow Witch sat, and looked at her with her usual open, calm gray eyes.

"Sister, if I have ever only asked one thing, I simply ask that you trust in me. Trust in my devotion to the Umbran way, and know that I would never stray from it. Might you be able to allow me that much?"

"...I never said I didn't, Rosa," the other finally replied, giving her a small smile through her mask. "I apologize, I was only saying what the others have, but I know that you would do nothing with the intention of bringing anything harmful upon our Order. Go on, go and see your flowers. Just be certain to be back before tonight's ceremony, we'll be needing your presence."

"Thank you, Sister, and I shall," Rosa replied. With a few more of the usual, menial farewells, Rosa went out the door, and swiftly shifted into the form of a falcon as she flew off. Now, to see if she could still find some time with a certain favorite silver 'flower'~


	6. Chapter 6

Balder sighed contentedly as he gazed upwards at the light streaming through the leaves of the trees. It was relaxing, being out in the wilderness as he was. Peaceful, quiet but for the vague rustling of his peacock's feathers. So many years after he had received the small pet, it had shed its drab chick feathers, having them replaced by a beautiful train of silvery white. The bird pecked around the grass nearby him as he held a feather which had been shed from his pet's train not too long ago. When bored, once, he had discovered that the fine strands that made up the ridges of the feathers were excellent for brushing one's hair through with, which was exactly what he had just finished doing. So, there he was, idly picking his hairs from between the feather's strands and gazing up at the warming early evening sunlight.

"Lovely evening, isn't it?" He didn't even seem surprised as he slowly tilted his head upwards to see that oh so familiar Witch draped out across an overhanging branch like a cat.

"Hello, Rosa," he greeted amiably, hardly even blinking at her appearance. Rosa raised an eyebrow at him, eyes glinting curiously.

"Oh? What's this? No starting or shouting, or running away?"

"You would only chase after me if I did" he responded coolly. "Besides... do I really have a reason to? I know you're not here to do anything but talk, like always. I'm not letting you jerk me around like you always do. So, if you want, you can stay up there and keep lying on that uncomfortable branch, or you can come down here and sit on the grass with me."

There was a lot more confidence in his voice than he actually felt as he spoke to her. This whole thing was probably a game to her anyhow, even her telling him that she liked him was probably just more of her playing with him. He expected her to just say 'ta ta' and leave once she realized he was her plaything no longer.

So, it was to his surprise (and, was that a touch of relief?) that he heard a sudden rustling noise, and she dropped delicately as a butterfly from the tree before seating herself beside him on the grass, leaning back against the trunk of the tree.

"Hm, you were right, it's much more comfortable down here. Cooler too," she added offhandedly. Balder gave her a bit of a surprised look as he found her sitting beside him so suddenly, but didn't comment on it. In fact, there wasn't a single word between them for several minutes as they sat beneath the tree, watching the sun's slow descent. He might have actually forgotten that she was there had she not suddenly begun running her fingers down the edges of your hair.

"...What are you doing?" he asked warily.

"Just admiring your hair," she answered. "It's so long and soft... you take care of it well. I know plenty of people who would kill to have hair this nice. What's your secret?" He didn't quite know where the topic of conversation had come from, but he would try to roll with it.

"... This." He held up the white peacock feather in his hand, and her eyes locked on it curiously.

"Is that so?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice. "And just how do you manage that? Do you grind them up and put it in like soap?"

"No, no," he responded quickly. "It's more like, hm..." He pressed his lips together, and cautiously slipped his hand under a lock of her thick, black hair, bringing it closer to him. It only really occurred to him that he could have just demonstrated with his own hair as he ran the small ridges of the feathers through hers, but he couldn't just stop there now that he'd started. Or, at least, that was what he told himself.

"...Interesting," she murmured. When he pulled back the feather, she quietly ran her fingers through the hair he had combed through with the feather. "I must say, I'm impressed. I never would have thought a Sage would have come up with a nifty little use for a feather like that."

"Give me a bit more credit than that, Witch," he said a bit indignantly. "We Sages are resourceful, we depend upon our wits and quickness of mind as much as we do our magic. We must make ourselves as efficient as possible, even in what might appear to be the most mundane of tasks."

"...Do you now?" There was a tone in Rosa's voice now, something he couldn't quite place. "Well, quickness in mind is all well and good... but what about in body?"

In body?

"Just what the devil are you talking ab-?" His unfinished question was cut off and abruptly answered as he felt Rosa's weight blow into his side, catching him off-guard and sending them tumbling across the cool grass. The sun had very nearly disappeared, so only the vaguest suggestions of light came from the remaining sunlight, and the slowly emerging stars and moon. This eerie quarter-light somehow made his heart beat more quickly with the way it somehow made Rosa seem to glow as she hovered over him with her hands at either side of his head while he was lying on his back in the grass.

"You'll need to be a bit quicker to react than that, Balder, or else you'd never be able to defeat a Witch who's using Witch Time."

"We Sages have our own techniques, Witch," he replied sharply. "How was I to know that you would throw me just then?! Especially when I didn't even have my guard up?!" He bit his lip there, but by then it was far too late.

"Oh? Do you trust me so much that you would lower your guard in my presence? Even though I am an Umbra Witch?" He made no answer for a minute or two, only the steadily increasing pinkness in his cheeks gave any such response. Not only was his pride wounded... it was causing his heart to pound even more with her looming over him as she was. However, slowly, he began treading cautiously over the eggshells.

"...And what would your response be... if I were to say I did?" he asked softly. Gray stared intensely into light blue, seeming to be searching into the innermost depths. Eventually, though, they softened.

"I would say that you are far too trusting, Sage," she responded curtly. "But, also... that I am... slightly touched." She pulled herself off of him, and seated herself against the tree again. She smiled behind her mask, for once without any hint of mischief, and patted the grass beside her. "If I promise not to jump you again, would you sit beside me again?"

"Well, I was sitting there to begin with," he responded simply. He (somewhat reluctantly) pulled himself up off of his back, and moved back to his previous seat. His hands were pressed somewhat awkwardly on either side of him in the grass, as he couldn't think of much else to do with them with Rosa sitting there. He might seem a bit awkward or strange if he just kept on fiddling with things. So he was simply sitting there, grasping the grass between his fingers; also completely not expecting to feel her hand settling gently atop his.

"What are you..." he didn't bother trying to finish his sentence, because all he saw was Rosa's gray eyes glinting at him from behind her glasses, and he was speechless again. So, instead of trying to get an answer from her, he simply sighed and leaned back against the tree again. Feeling the soft of the grass beneath him, the cool of the breeze at his cheek, and the warmth of her hand atop his.


End file.
